


Left to His Own Devices

by Daegaer



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Card Games, Domestic, Established Relationship, House Cleaning, M/M, old habits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 18:05:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5753095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Hakkai away, Gojyo puts up with some teasing from old friends, and reverts to old habits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left to His Own Devices

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



The house was weirdly quiet with Hakkai gone – weird because Hakkai wasn't really all that loud. Gojyo wandered round, vaguely bored and unsettled. Sheesh. How could he have sneaked out without saying goodbye? He paused. Somewhere in the back of his brain a vague memory of Hakkai's voice saying _Gojyo._ Gojyo _. Wake_ up _. I have to go if I'm going to catch the train_ niggled at him. He also sort of remembered ignoring Hakkai and snuggling deeper under the covers. Gojyo buried the start of the guilty feeling and concentrated on maybe forgiving Hakkai. Huh. Maybe he had said goodbye after all.

He wandered into the kitchen, squinting against the gleam of sunlight off the polished counters and appliances.

"Shit, man," he said. "A guy could get a migraine in here."

He peered into the cupboards, looking at the packages and boxes arranged by size, and type, and in one cupboard, by the colours of the rainbow. A note was on the fridge door, demanding his attention.

_Dear Gojyo,_

_before you make a_ complete _mess here, please note I have cooked meals for the days I'm away. They are in the freezer, and are clearly labeled. You just need to take them out the night before, and heat them up. Soak the containers before washing, it'll get them cleaner. Put the beer cans in the recycling and open all the windows the morning of my return. Let's not pretend you won't be smoking in the house._

_Hakkai_

_PS. Seriously. Don't mess up the kitchen._

 

"You have got to loosen up, man," he muttered.

He _knew_ it had been a mistake to leave Hakkai in charge of cooking. Even if he was the only one who could actually cook. Speaking of cooking – he pulled out some eggs and cracked them into the pan, adding a large splash of oil. In the back of one of the cupboards he found some tinned ham that Hakkai was probably keeping as emergency stores in case the house got cut off by floods, or zombies, or something. He opened it and added a couple of thick slices to the pan. Hakkai wasn't really in favour of Western-style fried breakfasts, but then Hakkai was currently on a train and what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Gojyo looked consideringly at the bread – there sure was a lot there for one guy. The only way he'd use it before it went stale was to eat it with every meal. Two thick slices went into the pan.

After his delicious and thoroughly greasy breakfast, washed down with the instant coffee Hakkai never, ever made, _because real coffee isn't any more effort and tastes so much_ better _, doesn't it, Gojyo?_ Gojyo stretched and wondered how to fill the day. How to fill the _days_ he corrected himself. With Hakkai off at this conference of his and himself currently – ah, under-employed, as Hakkai might put it – suddenly there seemed to be an awful lot of time to fill.

"Ah, shit, I'm fuckin' pathetic," he said, standing. How had he managed before Hakkai came along to tell him how to wipe his ass? Just fine, that's how. He didn't need his, his – whatever the hell Hakkai was - to tell him how to live. He didn't need his food neatly portioned out in Tupperware day by day. Unless Hakkai had made that shit with the lamb and egg plant again, because, man, that was delicious. He shook his head. No. He was a grown man. He could feed himself. He could get himself out of bed before noon – he looked at the clock, well, tomorrow he could – and he could get shit done. Right now he was going to take some of the housekeeping money Hakkai kept in the cat-shaped cookie tin and he was going to buy some food that a man like him could cook.

He cast a guilty look at the dirty plate and mug on the table as he headed out the door. No rush. He'd get around to it.

 

* * *

 

That evening he took some more of the housekeeping money and went to one of the bars Hakkai didn't really like. After a couple of beers and a bit of grimly laughing off the accusations that he'd been thinking himself too good to drink there, he let himself be persuaded into a card game with his old pals Meng and Shao. Just like old times, he thought, a pretty girl on his knee and a winning hand spread out in front of him. He stopped when he'd doubled his starting money.

"Your boyfriend's got your balls in a vice," Shao said grumpily, "Time was you'd have given a guy the chance to win his money back."

"Shit, man, he's not my boyf-"

"Yeah, yeah," Meng said. "Sure. At least buy us a fuckin' beer."

"Yeah, sure," Gojyo said, patting the shapely hip of the new barmaid, Fang, perched on his knee. "Darlin', a couple of beers for these losers, if you don't mind. Me, I'm heading home. I'll see you guys tomorrow, fair warning."

"Get ready to lose," Meng grinned as Gojyo handed the girl a few notes to cover the beers.

 

* * *

 

The next day he got up almost before noon and finished up the eggs and ham, and ate some of the ready-to-wok noodles he'd bought as well. He thought about making proper coffee, but ended up drinking instant. What the hell, it all ended up the same place. Then he had a little afternoon nap, just to get rid of the rest of the hangover, and woke up in time for a quick shower and shave before heading out to beat Shao and Meng at cards again. He made a mental note to clean up the growing pile of dirty dishes soon.

"You must be kidding," Meng said. "We don't see you for months and you still beat us?"

Gojyo shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just that good. It's your round, too."

"Bastard," Meng muttered, waving Fang off to get the beers.

"What do you do, anyway, when you're not taking our money?" Shao said.

Gojyo shook his head. He wasn't all that sure how to answer. _Talking,_ sounded weird, like he had something to say. _Listening to Hakkai talk_ was worse. As for anything else –

"You're a big boy, Shao, you know what he does," Meng said with a grin. "So where is the Professor, anyway?"

"He's gone off for a few days," Gojyo said vaguely. No way was he telling these fuckers he hadn't understood a word of what Hakkai said the conference was about. They'd laugh at him for a moron, even though they were his friends. Especially because they were his friends.

"Sha, you lucky fucker, now that the cat's away – Dolphin over there's been asking about you, if you're available," Shao said with a grin.

Gojyo looked at the barmaid. "Why d'you call her Dolphin?"

"Because she rarely needs to come up for air."

Gojyo sniggered, then had a very clear image of Hakkai's face and what Hakkai thought about sexist remarks. "Be nice about the lady," he said, keeping his face as straight as possible. When she came back she sat on his knee again, and kissed him for good luck, laughing with what sounded like genuine pleasure when he won the next hand. _You're not here_ , he thought at his image of Hakkai, _we don't own each other, and she's cute._ He let her kiss him for luck the next couple of hands as well. By the end of the evening he was entertaining thoughts about what it'd been like to go home with a nicely rounded barmaid, and wondering if he remembered it right.

"Old Shao said you kicked Mr Cho out," Fang whispered in his ear. "Did you?"

She smelled really nice, he thought, and felt better, and Shao and Meng were about to tell him again that he had a boyfriend who had his balls in a vice. Which wasn't true, because that was a really crude and inelegant solution to finding you'd been two-timed in your own bed, and Hakkai was _clever_ and _inventive_ , and Gojyo's life would be over in far more interesting and unpleasant ways than Shao and Meng could ever come up with. Besides, imagining Hakkai's face when he found out made Gojyo's insides twist up in a way he found hard to think about.

"Sorry, Darlin'," he said. "Shao's wrong. Hakkai's just away for a few days."

"Pity," she said, and kissed him again. "For luck," she said, "because you didn't call me that name."

He won the hand and staggered home with his winnings and a huge bag of the greasiest take-out a guy could buy.

 

* * *

 

Gojyo had very little sense of impending doom, other than a raging headache and intense queasiness, which he was treating by devouring cold, extra-spicy noodles straight from the take-out carton, and watching kid's cartoons on the TV. He was giggling weakly at the stupidity of a cat being outwitted by a mouse when he heard the front door open and he froze in utter fear. _Shit. Oh, shit._ He turned to see Hakkai put his bag down and just _look_ around the room. The silence was broken by the wet _plop_ of the noodles falling from Gojyo's chopsticks onto the couch.

"I wonder if the taxi has left," Hakkai said, picking up his bag.

"C'mon, Hakkai," Gojyo said, "I'll make you some tea."

Hakkai put the bag down again and took a deep breath. "I haven't even been gone three full days," he said. "And yet –" His gesture encompassed the dirty dishes on the table, the noodles on the couch, the beer cans on the floor and the fact that Gojyo hadn't quite managed to get the hang of undressing for bed the night before and there were a pair of underpants adorning the bookcase.

"Um," Gojyo said.

"And _what_ are you _eating?_ No, no, don't tell me. It's all right. Let's just get this place fit for human habitation again."

"Heh, why?" Gojyo said weakly, "I mean, it's just _us_."

He blinked. Maybe he was still drunk. Or maybe Hakkai had actually just growled. He tried to subtly check he was still wearing his limiters. Then he obediently started cleaning up. The dining room looked a lot better pretty quickly, and the kitchen started looking more like Hakkai had left it once the cooker had been scrubbed and a few sets of dishes had been done.

"You had fun while I was away, then?" Hakkai said, sounding like he wasn't feeling quite as murderous.

"I more than doubled the housekeeping money," Gojyo said. "And I got out of bed before noon. Almost." He risked pushing a sudsy hand through Hakkai's hair. "How was the conference? Full of pretentious egg-heads?"

"Yes," Hakkai said and smiled, for which Gojyo was very grateful. "Very enjoyable, thank you." He shoved his glasses up his nose and looked a little guilty. "I'm afraid I bought some books. I had to buy another bag to get them home."

Gojyo laughed. "Glad to know I wasn't the only one whooping it up. S'all right, turns out we have the money to buy another bookcase."

Hakkai pulled him closer. "Still, you should probably come with me to the next one. You could stop me buying quite so many books, and I wouldn't have to worry about the state of the house when we got back."

"Me? Go to one of your things? Do they even let –" Screw it, he was going to say the word. " – boyfriends go to your egghead meetings?"

Hakkai looked at him quizzically, like he was talking nonsense, then gave him the smile that kept Gojyo sitting at home every night. "They certainly accept that spouses and partners might come along."

"Right," Gojyo said. That sounded less like one of his friends' jokes; more – grown-up. It sounded just fine. "Why not? I could look at sights or buy souvenirs or something."

Hakkai put the kettle on and made tea, smiling all the time like he'd won some sort of prize. "Tell me about you doubling the housekeeping," he said, handing Gojyo a cup.

"Ehh, nothing interesting there," Gojyo said, leading him back into the dining room and settling down with him on the couch. "Tell me about arguing with your pretentious guys."

Hakkai grinned and launched into a convoluted story, letting Gojyo sit back and listen with pleasure, and just the smallest twinge of worry.

He _really_ hoped he'd cleaned the fallen noodles from where Hakkai was sitting.


End file.
